By Navjot Kaur Sobti

Flipping through the heavy metal stacks of CDs at our neighborhood record store, it would have been easy for me to overlook Clean Hands go Foul, the 2009 release by Khanate. I flipped the CD over, and beheld that not only is the band based out of New York City (fresh local metal matter), but that they are also not your typical underground group: this is an extreme doom metal outfit consisting of the pioneers of the genre – Stephen O’Malley, of Sunn O))) and Burning Witch fame, Tim Wyskida of Manbyrd and Blind Idiot God, as well as James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, of now disbanded OLD.

The album, released in early 2009, consists of seven tracks, with the shortest track clocking in at 6:48 and the longest at 32:51. For members of a genre that prides itself on lengthy, meticulously developed songs  a seven-track release is no small feat; one would wonder if such long songs would risk loss of structure or coherence. Starting with “Wings from Sprine,” the band proves otherwise. The song presents us with noise-driven, machine-like clicks and distressed vocals, calling to mind Axis of Perdition-like experiments with sound. Guitars screech lethargically, creating friction against the torturous vocals of Alan Dubin.

This lethargy is demonized by the melancholic guitar parts of “In that Corner,” which produce melodies that quickly decay into (seemingly) random, low-tuned noise. Reacting in the solvent of the dissonant riffs are pendulum beats, echoing off in the distance in “Release,” which effectively induce feelings of desolation and solitude. In this desolation, we are caught off guard by the simultaneously peaceful and foreboding church bells of “Every God Damn Thing.” Following this moment of repose, the band casts listeners back into mental chaos with “German Dental Work,” as performed live, on WFMU; it is here that each instrument takes on a monstrous presence. Ultimately, each song plays an integral function in creating the sinister character that seems to lurk beneath the record as a whole. It is this presence that invokes the sounds of a subconscious, in whose treachery and animalistic rage we find beauty and catharsis.

If you’re into noise-driven anything, be it metal or industrial music, Clean Hands go Foul is your quick fix.